Shadow of the Colossus

On a cloudy night, a lone hawk wheels past two longtime companions — Wander and his horse, Agro — as they pick their way along an unforgiving cliffside trail at the edge of a canyon. The pair have traveled this lonely path a long while, through murky forests and rain-soaked grasslands alike, until at last they reach their destination: a tall stone gate with a narrow passage. Beyond it stretches an enormous bridge of almost otherworldly construction, spanning the Forbidden Lands — a dramatic expanse of plains and canyons, sealed-off pockets of arid desert, geyser-studded clefts, dark forests, and shadowed crevasses. The bridge ends at the Shrine of Worship, a colossal structure at the heart of the Lands. Wander and Agro descend to the temple's main hall, lined with sixteen stone idols and ending in an altar. There Wander reveals what he has carried all this way: a body wrapped in cloth. He lays it on the altar and draws back the sheet to reveal Mono, a young woman in a white dress. The scene cuts to an owl mask against a cloudy sky as Lord Emon, a spiritual leader of Wander's people, intones a cryptic warning — that in this place, born of intersecting points and etched into stone, one may, if they wish it, bring back the souls of the dead, but that to trespass here is strictly forbidden. When shadowy apparitions rise from the temple floor, Wander draws a mysterious sword whose otherworldly energy dissolves them instantly. A booming pair of voices then fills the hall from a great opening above, startled that Wander wields the "Ancient Sword." Recognizing the voices as those of Dormin, Wander asks that Mono be revived. Dormin feigns indifference at first — but cannot quite hide its fascination with the sword Wander carries.